Going with your gut

Do you make decisions based on your gut, or are you more likely to favour cool deliberation? Instinct might be regarded as rationality's poor cousin, but it can in fact provide valuable information. Learning to listen to your gut may lead to better decision-making and improved quality of life.

- Words by Terry Robson

There is a lot of self-talk that goes on within all of us. You know the kind of thing: "Stupid! Why did I have to mention the echidna?!" or "This shirt is really workin' for me today! Smokin'!" Or, "Will I look like a pig if I eat that last biscotti? I really want it, though. Maybe if I create a distraction by setting the packets of sugar on fire, I can grab it while everyone debates whether a latté will put out a sugar fire?"

While you may have not had those exact thoughts, you will have had others according to your own inner voice. Undoubtedly, your inner thoughts contribute to your outer decisions and behaviour, but they are not the entire story. There will also have been times when you have had a gut feeling or instinct about a situation that was beyond rational understanding. In a highly rational age, we tend to dismiss those gut instincts because they don't fit a scientific model of sequential reasoning and understanding. However, the more we study gut feelings, the more we realise they contain valuable information and can lead to better decision-making.

Unconscious information

Did you know you have sensory organs that gather information? Your eyes, ears and taste buds all register what is happening in the world around you and send data to your brain, which synthesises that data and makes decisions. However, that is not the end of the data-gathering network that your brain has at its disposal.